I still have the ticket stub from the first show I saw him play. Wolf & Rissmiller's Country Club, Reseda California. Jeff Berlin was the opener.
I think about him in a group of two other players who had a presence in LA in the 70’s and 80’s: Lenny Breau and Ted Greene. Virtuosity wasn't enough. The music business is cruel that way.
There is a documentary to be made about guitar and LA in the late 70’s early 80’s. Valley Arts, GIT, the new guard of studio cats. Me and best friend used to see Jay Graydon bowling at Corbin Bowl. And you never knew who you would bump into in one of the many music stores along Ventura Blvd. Good memories.
"The Un-Merry-Go-Round,” might be my desert island Alan cut. As much as he loathed the idea of playing a blues cliche, this track has the depth and angst of blues. I get a similar feeling hearing, “After The Rain.” I think he'd be ok with that.
I discovered him after I discovered Kurt Rosenwinkel but I realized where a lot of Kurt’s and others’ synth prowess came from when I found Holdsworth. He died so young. Total freak. RIP.
One thing that really stands out here is that Holdsworth wasn’t simply expanding guitar technique—he was changing what the instrument was allowed to do. The legato approach already pushes the guitar away from its normal attack-based identity, and the SynthAxe takes that further by letting him reshape a note after it has sounded. In that sense, his sound feels less like an effects-based extension of guitar and more like an attempt to redesign the instrument’s behavior from the inside.
I keep having discussion about the coltrane comparison. but people who really know - and that would include scott henderson and brett stine - keep repeating, that its a bad comparison. because coltrane relied a lot on licks, passing tones and "the tradition", whereas AH approached scales or parts of scales (including those going up to two octaves in structure) from a STRICT permutational point. So yes, the legato thing. but the really unique thing about Allan seems to be the fact that he must have had a brain and memory (and early work ethic) as an ivy league mathematician which was sublimated through the passion of an early british romanticist, you know, the ones who rather die then to compromise due to the immensily felt passion.
I hear his influence in quite a few players. It's a shame he's never gotten his due and I have to wonder if he'd been playing more traditional jazz if that would still be the case. Nobody else sounds like him.
Either way, that quote from your interview with him where he describes being influenced to write Above and Below is an important one. A lot of people these days seem to misunderstand how the creative process works and think creatives are just recombobulating what they've been influenced by, but that quote well illustrates how the process actually works.
Thanks so much for this. The ultimate guitar player and such a character. I always remember the date he died, but not his birthday. The last time I saw him was for his 60th birthday party.
I still have the ticket stub from the first show I saw him play. Wolf & Rissmiller's Country Club, Reseda California. Jeff Berlin was the opener.
I think about him in a group of two other players who had a presence in LA in the 70’s and 80’s: Lenny Breau and Ted Greene. Virtuosity wasn't enough. The music business is cruel that way.
There is a documentary to be made about guitar and LA in the late 70’s early 80’s. Valley Arts, GIT, the new guard of studio cats. Me and best friend used to see Jay Graydon bowling at Corbin Bowl. And you never knew who you would bump into in one of the many music stores along Ventura Blvd. Good memories.
"The Un-Merry-Go-Round,” might be my desert island Alan cut. As much as he loathed the idea of playing a blues cliche, this track has the depth and angst of blues. I get a similar feeling hearing, “After The Rain.” I think he'd be ok with that.
Great piece! Your substack is becoming a must read for this guitar player between this and the recent Al Di Meola post.
I discovered him after I discovered Kurt Rosenwinkel but I realized where a lot of Kurt’s and others’ synth prowess came from when I found Holdsworth. He died so young. Total freak. RIP.
One thing that really stands out here is that Holdsworth wasn’t simply expanding guitar technique—he was changing what the instrument was allowed to do. The legato approach already pushes the guitar away from its normal attack-based identity, and the SynthAxe takes that further by letting him reshape a note after it has sounded. In that sense, his sound feels less like an effects-based extension of guitar and more like an attempt to redesign the instrument’s behavior from the inside.
Please write the book on Allan, don't think anyone else would/will do it any better.
I keep having discussion about the coltrane comparison. but people who really know - and that would include scott henderson and brett stine - keep repeating, that its a bad comparison. because coltrane relied a lot on licks, passing tones and "the tradition", whereas AH approached scales or parts of scales (including those going up to two octaves in structure) from a STRICT permutational point. So yes, the legato thing. but the really unique thing about Allan seems to be the fact that he must have had a brain and memory (and early work ethic) as an ivy league mathematician which was sublimated through the passion of an early british romanticist, you know, the ones who rather die then to compromise due to the immensily felt passion.
Saw him live on two occasions. Incredible.
Wow!
I hear his influence in quite a few players. It's a shame he's never gotten his due and I have to wonder if he'd been playing more traditional jazz if that would still be the case. Nobody else sounds like him.
Either way, that quote from your interview with him where he describes being influenced to write Above and Below is an important one. A lot of people these days seem to misunderstand how the creative process works and think creatives are just recombobulating what they've been influenced by, but that quote well illustrates how the process actually works.
Thanks so much for this. The ultimate guitar player and such a character. I always remember the date he died, but not his birthday. The last time I saw him was for his 60th birthday party.
Thanks for putting AH in a more understandable perspective